In the very early hours of Sunday morning, Miss Hastie Smith and I took 10 boys down to Framlingham College to compete in the U11 IAPS Hockey Finals as group winners of the Scotland and North of England qualifier.

Framlingham had laid on a lovely brunch for us and we then met up with Coach Cuan for a walk around the town and Framlingham castle. Following a swim at the school pool and a light training session to test out the playing surfaces, we headed to our hotel for a meal and early night. On the Monday, we travelled back to Framlingham to take on some very strong hockey teams from England - Beachborough, Feltonfleet, Dumpton and the powerhouse that is Millfield.

In the first game, we started slowly and immediately found ourselves defending a penalty corner. We survived that and after a bit of further pressure we eventually found our rhythm and began to build our own attacks by moving the ball quickly and using our pace out wide. Following a bit of a scramble in the opposition circle, Harry, our captain, got our campaign underway when he poked the ball over the line to give us a 1-0 lead. This was arguably against the run of play. We relaxed a bit more and our nerves settled. The half time talk allowed us to relax and regroup and it was an opportunity to talk to the boys about being calmer on the ball. In the second half, following a pre-tournament chat as to what to do when we start with the ball, Teddy made it 2-0 straight from the start of the second half as he spun on the spot and drove forward, catching the opposition unaware. The young striker dribbled and skipped by the midfield and defence and delicately snuck the ball into the goal as the opposition keeper rushed out. A quite memorable moment for Teddy which also sent the travelling fans delirious! As Beachborough pushed forward, gaps appeared and Daniel and Nick exploited this space. Tommy got our third following a rebound from a penalty corner and we had begun the day with a wonderful 3-0 victory.

Unfortunately, that was where our scoring of goals ended as we drew 0-0 against Feltonfleet in what was probably a fair result with both goalkeepers having to make saves. Dumpton were next and we knew this likely needed to be a win because of facing an unbeaten Millfield side in the final pool game. The third pool game was rather close again with neither side having clear cut chances. It was just a lapse in concentration which left one of their players free at the top of the circle and whilst his shot was saved well by Ethan, our defence didn't react quick enough to clear the rebound and despite Ethan's excellent dive, they managed to break the deadlock. We had some tired boys and Arran came on for a few minutes to give Daniel a rest. The substitute almost had a chance of glory as he prepared to let rip one of his hard sweeps but for the defence to clear it at a crucial moment.

With this narrow loss, and following another result in our pool, we knew that we were not going to make the top 8. Whilst there was bitter disappointment all round, it seemed to somehow relax the boys and they were able to play with a bit more freedom knowing that barring a drubbing in our final pool game, we were likely to be finishing 3rd in the group and into the plate competition. We had been watching Millfield: a strong, well-drilled and physical side. However, we played our best hockey of the day against the team from the west country. Tommy, Nick and Hugo moved the ball around the back superbly but when a move in the middle broke down, they countered and their striker sent a rocket of a shot into the bottom far corner giving Ethan no chance. The second half we raised our game and pressed them hard with some excellent work down the right from Harry, Daniel and Teddy. We were just lacking that killer instinct in front of goal but had us finish 3rd place in our group which was a great achievement in what seemed like a tough group. This put us into the plate against Cranleigh who secured a 1-0 win following a short corner right on half time. We threw on some fresh legs in Archer and Ensay at the back and pushed Hugo into midfield but just couldn't find a way into the circle as our final pass was too weak in the crucial time.

It was a bitter blow having started the day so positively but to only concede 3 goals in 4 games is testament to the excellent defence we showed. Hugo was outstanding as he made a huge number of blocks and interceptions. Ethan made several key saves which allowed us to stay in every game. We competed well in all our matches with no side really dominating us. Harry and Teddy played some intelligent hockey and when no shot was on, they won many penalty corners which, despite some nice variation, we couldn't quite finish.

The boys did themselves and their school very proud with some of the hockey they played. Their energy levels dipped further with each game and tournament hockey can be cruel with things going for you or against you with the finest margins.